Newspaper or Landscape Fabric | 5 Reasons Newspaper Kills Weeds BETTER!
Newspaper or Landscape Fabric?
We’ve shared this tip before – but with the awesome weather, we have had the last couple days it seemed like a good time to mention it again!
My kids helped me weed my flower beds today and I ran up to Lowe’s to get some mulch – but before I lay it down, I’m putting down some newspaper to save myself from weeding anymore this season.
Why Newspaper? Once you’ve spent hours upon hours hunched over hand-weeding a flower bed – you’re in no hurry to do it again. Here’s a little tip I learned from my mom (the greenest thumb I know) about keeping out weeds in your flowerbeds….
Layer on the Newspaper!
Newspapering your weeded flower beds is a cheap, easy way to keep our unwanted weeds by denying them light. Here are 5 Ways using Newspaper totally trumps laying down landscaping fabric in your garden:
- It’s a great way to recycle old papers.
- Newspaper amends the soil, leaving it soft and loose if it is currently hard and rocky. As the cotton fibers in the paper decompose, it makes your soil richer and softer for next year’s planting! This hard clay soil here in Tennessee is a prime example of why I need to newspaper my beds.
- Get ready to grow a nice crop of earthworms – because they LOVE the layer where the paper meets the soil. And we all know worms are good for your plants – as well as handy on a fishing trip.
- Newspaper is FREE – whereas the black landscaping fabric can get costly.
- In fact, the landscaping fabric really is evil stuff. You not only will have weeds start growing through the microscopic holes in the fabric (also, many seeds are airborne and will just land on top anyway) – but it’s nearly impossible to pull them out when their roots are under/enmeshed in the fabric (You literally have to CUT the landscaping fabric off the ground to get the weeds out!)
Are you convinced yet? Then let’s get cracking! You’ll need to weed your beds first and then lie down a thick layer of 8-10 sheets of stacked newspaper. (If you run out, wet cardboard will work as well) Cover with a thick layer of mulch (about 3″) and you’ll be weed-free for a few years before you need to lie down anymore!
Do you have any tips for keeping weeds out? I’d love to hear them!
i love this method!! i’ve used cardboard, brown paper grocery bags, and newspaper…works like a charm for creating new beds and keeping the weeds out of established beds. the cardboard works the best.
do you have to remove the weeds first before putting down the news papers? I want to kill the weeds and then remove them and then plant?
I would pull out most of them that you can and don’t worry about the teeny tiny ones. 🙂 ONce the paper is down and deprives them of sunlight/presses down on them – you won’t have many pop up.
So I weed the flower bed, lay down news paper, put fresh top soil down, put flowers in then mulch like wood chips down?
YES!
Does newspaper attract more insects?
At my office we are trashing some old files. I was going to keep the file folders to use in my garden. I’m sure the manila folders are fine to use but what do you think about the colored ones? If you can use ads from the newspaper I would think its OK to use colored file folder? What do y’all think?
Hi, I’m trying to plant an already established flower garden, it has lots of grass coming up. Do I need to dig down, put cardboard, then add back the topsoil and mulch, or just weed it, lay the paper down and cover with mulch…..making holes in the paper for the flowers and shrubs?
I had heard about the newspaper idea so not researching more, we also put black garden fabric down ( can’t remember the name but it isn’t the regular type garden black fabric) cut a hole for each shrub, but didn’t for the marigolds, but we did put miracle grow garden soil in and planted the flowers it that. Will not having the flowers in the earth cause them to die or will the live in the top soil? Thank you.
Bought a new house in Florida that Hay was used all around the plants in the flower bed. Not sure if I need to remove the hey before I lay newspaper/weed mat down or can I lay this on TOP of the Hay? Then the plan is to top with rock or mulch, along with a cement curb for the edging. Being in Florida, will this cause a bug or moisture problem. Your thoughts??
Thanks
I have lots of newspaper and cardboard, question is their a maximum amt. of paper , cardboard that one should use . I am afraid if I put too much my plants might not get enough water when it rains .e-mail your answer , bentkowskid @icloud.com Thank u , need to know ASAP. I put some down last spring and weeds did come thru , I can not remember how much paper I added. I also put down mulch as well. The weeds were a lot but were pretty easy to remove.
I usually add a couple of layers of newspaper.
Just wondering if garden snakes would like this as an area to hang out with the trapped moisture.
How deep should I burrito the newspaper?
Well, Billy, I am not sure about burritoing the newspaper! LOL!!! I don’t bury it too deep. Usually some topsoil on top along with a 2-4 inch layer of mulch.
You don’t put soil on the newspaper. That defeats the purpose. You cover it with mulch, which has no weed seeds in it. 3″ thick is good for a brand new bed, but 2″ is about the minimum.
I am making a stone pebble patio . Would newspaper work better to prevent weeds than fabric ?
I want to eliminate cutting grass on a hillside. If I lay down paper or cardboard, cover it with topsoil and mulch, will I then be able to plant cover plants by cutting through the base and eliminate future grass and weeds? Should the paper or cardboard be wet first?
I have only used in planter beds and not on grassy areas. You could give it a try. I don’t think you would have to wet the paper or cardboard.
The paper or cardboard needs to be wetted either before or after applying to keep it in place. We are doing a customer’s landscape be and sprayed the lawn with weed killer 2 days ahead of the job. For ourselves, we haven’t sprayed first.
Can I use old black and white printed papers from college in place of newspaper? Trying to think of a creative way to get rid of them. 🙂
I’ve never used it so I’m not sure. I’ve mainly heard that it’s best to use newspaper or cardboard.
I would shred that stuff and put it down, under the newspaper.
I finally have all my flower beds weeded for the fall and have stacks of newspaper. I am short on money, do I need to mulch right away or can it wait until next year?
Congrats on getting your flower beds weeded. That’s quite a job! If you put your newspapers down, you need to cover them right away. They will blow away or disintegrate in the weather.
Could you cover it with topsoil?
We’d like to get rid of teasel weeds from the vacant area. Will it be effective using newspaper or card board to kill those weeds? I’m looking for something that are not harmful to the environment.
Cardboard should work great on those stubborn weeds!
Thank you Mary. I will try cardboard first and let you know.